Bundesbank halts help to Bangladesh on death penalty reports

Source :

Last Updated: Sat, Jan 19, 2013 06:22 hrs

FRANKFURT, Jan 17 (Reuters) - Germany's Bundesbank said on
Thursday it had put on ice plans to assist the central bank of
Bangladesh in preventing currency forgery, citing news reports
the country planned to threaten counterfeiters with the death
penalty.

The German central bank said it was not aware of the plans
when it agreed to the cooperation.

"The Bundesbank thinks that counterfeiting is a serious
offence, but considers the threat of a death penalty as
excessive," it said in a statement.

"Should such plans not be scrapped..., the Bundesbank will
terminate the project in Bangladesh before it has started."

There has been no death penalty in the Federal Republic of
Germany since its founding in 1949.